Busy Busy


I've been working on a post on lower-quality jobs and the possibility of a declining standard of living in the U.S. It's pretty scary, and so I'm procrastinating on it a bit. Anyway, on to another pet topic of mine, the housing bubble. Over at Crooked Timber, there were a few discussions of the "Efficient Market Hypothesis" which says roughly that at any time a free market will determine the best price for some item utilizing all information. Brad Delong already has links to all three of them. Those of us who feel that information isn't always available due to asymetrical control of information flow know better. Bubbles form due to asymetric information and market psychology.

Anyway, here are two articles on the housing bubble from the New York Times. I think there is definately a bubble in the DC area. When my dinky little townhouse has more than doubled in value in 4 years, there's something very odd in the market.


The New York Times > Week in Review > The Perils of Predicting Financial Bubbles

The New York Times > Business > Your Money > GRETCHEN MORGENSON: Housing Bust: It Won't Be Pretty

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